Ishqiya
2010 · Directed by Abhishek Chaubey
Original language: Hindi
- thriller
- comedy
The story
While on the run from goons, a man and his nephew fall for a kidnapper's seductive widow.
What it’s like
Sun-bleached small-town India, all dusty ochre walls, tin-roofed houses and hot amber dusk, shot with a loose, observant handheld camera that lingers in courtyards, lantern-lit rooms and crowded market lanes. Ghazal-tinged songs and a restless, percussive score sit beside ambient street noise, and the dialogue crackles with sly, regional wordplay. Two bickering, scruffy men on the run from thugs fall into a rivalry over a magnetic widow, and the mood swings between wry farce and sudden, sharp unease. Violence is brief but abrupt, with a couple of shootings and a few deaths shown without lingering gore, and the sensuality is suggestive rather than explicit. Its vibe is sultry, sardonic and a little dangerous, a late-night watch for anyone who likes morally slippery characters, crime comedy with a romantic undertow, and the feel of a heat-soaked evening that could turn at any moment.
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